


Moral of the Story

by Japo_Chan23



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Warriors
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Am i gonna bring it all back to lu? who knows i dont lol, Angst, Bitter ending, Dialogue Light, During Canon, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt No Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, No Romance, Other, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Pre-Linked Universe, Red String of Fate, dont get your hopes up, pre-LU, this might became a series but it also might not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:39:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25818961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Japo_Chan23/pseuds/Japo_Chan23
Summary: "Is there someone waiting for you at home?" Lana asked one night, her head on his shoulder. They had started a smile fire away from camp after everyone had gone to bed. She said she couldn't sleep, and Link wanted to ignore the tugging at his hand.He glances down at the red string, and tilts his head. "No, there isn't. Maybe my parents and sisters, but no one keeping my bed warm if that's what you mean," he snorted, lightly hitting her shoulder."Are you gonna look for your soulmate after the war then?" Lana pushes Link's shoulder, and he feels his mood sour at the mention of his soulmate.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	Moral of the Story

Link had a red string around his pinky for as long as he could remember. It would get tugged constantly, pulling taunt at his finger, alerting him of his soulmate who was most likely seeking him out. 

He was too focused on learning how to wield a sword to pay mind to his soulmate. 

Granted, overtime, while the string was at first only tied around his finger, it slowly curled around his hand, wrapping it in its red thread, and his hand would always move just the slightest bit whenever his soulmate pulled on it. 

"How can I even serve my country when I can barely even use my hand with all this tugging?" Link shouted, throwing his wooden sword to the ground. He huffed, before he kicked at it, and his teacher sword. 

"You're lucky you have a soulmate who cares, Link. They just want to find you," his teacher explain carefully, hands on his shoulders.

"Well I'm busy!" Link bent down to pick up his sword, and he fell into a stance once more, narrowing his eyes at his teacher. "One more time."

His teacher sighed, but picked up his own wooden sword. "Alright Link, but you deserve a break afterwards."

He breathes in deeply, and ignores the tug at his hand as he swings his sword at his teacher.

Link is sixteen when he leaves home to go to Castle Town. 

Granted, he left a note on the kitchen table telling his parents that he was leaving because he didn't have the courage to tell that he wanted to go now and find a new teacher that could teach him more before he joined the army. He hears of a dojo in Castle Town, so he bid his old teacher farewell. 

The tugging is insistent, and the string has wrapped around his wrist tightly, and he hasn't felt more annoyed by something so small before. 

It was then that he decided that he couldn't wait any longer. He trained all of his life for this. 

Link is seventeen when he lies about his age and enrolls into the army. 

Most of the soldiers around him talk about how they found their soulmate as soon as they could, and they showed off their rings proudly, or talked about the color of the string that was wrapped around their finger. 

There was one soldier who told them about how his soulmate cut their string when he was a child, and Link feels sympathetic.

The soldier's name was Leif, and Link spends the rest of his day and night talking to the man.

Link shares his first kiss that night as well, and he ignores the tug at his string and the tug at his heart.

"Did your soulmate cut your string, too?" Leif asked, rubbing the back of Link's hand. His head was placed again Link's shoulder, and the blonde sighed, eyeing the ceiling. 

The tugging at his hand persisted, and he pretended not to see the string that was curled around his hand. "Yeah, they did. But it's okay." Leif gave him another kiss, and Link feels the string tighten around his hand even more.

Link is eighteen when they go to war with Cia. 

The woman claimed to have a dark string around his index finger that should lead to Link, and he's glad to say that his string was red. 

They meet a girl named Lana, and Link feels like pure bliss around her. 

She says she has an orange string around her ring finger, and Link ignores that fact.

"Is there someone waiting for you at home?" Lana asked one night, her head on his shoulder. They had started a smile fire away from camp after everyone had gone to bed. She said she couldn't sleep, and Link wanted to ignore the tugging at his hand. 

He glances down at the red string, and tilts his head. "No, there isn't. Maybe my parents and sisters, but no one keeping my bed warm if that's what you mean," he snorted, lightly hitting her shoulder. 

"Are you gonna look for your soulmate after the war then?" Lana pushes Link's shoulder, and he feels his mood sour at the mention of his soulmate. 

"Uh, no." The tugging was so annoying, and he doesn't think that being tied down to one sole person could be good for him. He was fine on his own, anyways. "I think they're looking for me right now, actually, but because we've been going everywhere I doubt they'll find me anytime soon. Hopefully."

Lana furrowed her brow, and she opened her mouth to say something. 

Link threw a handful of grass at her before she had the chance to speak, which lead to them play fighting. 

He wasn't gonna deny that it felt good to fight and get rid of so much pent up energy. 

It wasn't until three months later did he return from the battle at Skyloft and the Sacred Grounds did he see Lana and the others again.

"Link! I found my soulmate!" Lana shouted the moment that she saw Link and his troops approaching the rendezvous point. She ran up to him, grabbing his arm in a tight grip, as she tried to get him to walk faster to the camp.

Link laughed loudly as he pried her fingers off. "Lana,  _ chill _ , you don't need to pull so hard!"

"But you need to meet her!" Lana pouted as she placed her hands on her hips, and Link chuckled once again. "She's a princess of the Twilight Realm, but she got cursed. I think you'll like her."

"You think so?" He raised a brow, and Lana nodded excitedly as she tugged him towards her tent. 

Meeting Midna was exciting, and seeing how the two interacted made Link crave what they had. 

There was a tug at the string, and Link decided to tug at it for the first time in his life.

Link is twenty when the war is finally over and Ganondorf is defeated. 

Lana left to the Twilight Realm to be with Midna, Leif went back to his home, Zelda and Impa went back to whatever duties that they had, and Link decides to stay in Castle Town. He was promoted to Captain of the Royal Guard, so he continued his duties in the castle while occasionally attending meetings. 

He had visited his family occasionally, and when they asked him about his soulmate, he decided to tell them that he never found them. Granted, it more of the fact that he just didn't want to find his soulmate. 

Sometimes he goes to bars and flirts. Other times he goes home with someone. Every time he ignores the tug at his hand. 

The string remained curled around his fingers, around his hand and his wrist. It was tight, and the stark red of the string stood out against the cool colors of his attire. 

He was just glad that no one could see it. Glad that it couldn't be seen until you either found your soulmate or cut the string yourself. 

Link just wished that there was a way to just... remove it. He didn't want to cut it off,  _ knowing _ that he would break his soulmates heart. Wanted to just take the string off, and leave it lying on the ground where his soulmate could one day tug it and feel have the distance shorten.

Link knew that some people didn't have soulmates, knew that the people who didn't have one would kill just to have a string tied around their finger. Link was more than willing to give his string away, though. 

_ "Here you go," _ he would say as he removed the red string that chained him down. " _ One soulmate, all yours. Happy life and all that."  _ And he wouldn't have to deal with the constant tugging at his right hand, and he could finally just live his life in peace. No tugging, no random person in the world to worry about. Just living his life. Just as he was meant to be doing. 

But no. No matter how many time he tried, he could never unravel the string around his hand, could never untie the delicate tangles that prevented him from being his own person. Link could never bring up the strength to actually cut it, though. 

He knew that if he cut it, everyone would see it. See the string that captured his hand, that held him down and prevented him from being free. Link just wished his soulmate didn't want him, either, but the insistent tugging was an obvious sign that his soulmate was actively seeking him out, searching for him. Going wherever they think he might be. 

"I hate having a soulmate," Link says to himself one day. 

Too bad his soulmate didn't feel the same way. 

Link is twenty one when he decides that he can't keep doing this. Can't keep leading his soulmate on, can't keep acting like things would get better if he just ignored the tugging, ignored the fact that his soulmate was searching for him. 

He was in someone else's bed when he comes to that realization, and he carefully gets out of bed, slipping his clothes on, and leaves in the dead of night. 

It's hot outside, and Link feels the courage to finally do the thing that he was always avoiding.

When he gets home, he's quick to take his shoes off, quick to throw his things aside as he rushes into his home, searching for a pair of scissors that could finally rid him of what he was always avoiding. Rid him of the burden of a soulmate. 

Link finds an old pair, the silver of it glinting from the flame of his candle, and he just... stares at it. 

He knows that if he does this, that there's no going back from it. That when he cuts it he won't have a way to find his soulmate again besides pure chance. He'll live his life normally, with his string shown to everyone, and he'll be alone. 

His hand hurts from how tight the string was, and he pulls at it lightly, feels it on his fingertips. He traces where the string was wrapped around his wrist, where it cross crossed over his palm, before going to where it was originally tied at his pinky finger. 

He plays with the knot for a moment, and there's a small voice in the back of his head telling him how much of a bad idea this could be. How this could cause someone out there to go through tremendous grief and mourn for something they could never have. 

But Link doesn't know this stranger, and he's done more than enough for everyone when he ended he war. 

He deserves to be selfish for once, deserves to do one thing just for himself.

Link tugs at the knot of the string once more, before he picks up his scissors. 

His hand is shaking, and there are tugs on the string, over and over again, and his vision blurs. If he cuts this, everything changes, and he can't go back from this. 

He breathes in shakily, and pulls at the string that was hanging off of his wrist. 

There was a small tug back. 

Link brings the scissors up to the thread as it was pulled once more, and he raised the scissors up to it, careful not to bring it too close to the skin of his wrist. 

And he watches as the red string falls to the ground. 

And the tugging stops.

**Author's Note:**

> fuck man im so tired LMAO
> 
> did i miss the update for Teardrops? ,,,,,yes,,,,,,,,y'all im sowwy- 
> 
> anyways i wrote this during a lw not too long ago. i need to finish my angst fic, but im tempted to just finished the crack fic i have planned cause that's only 7 chapters long (in theory)
> 
> anyways soulmate shit dab dab dab bye guys love you be safe and have a good one


End file.
